Super Wawa on Route 73 at the Voorhees-Berlin border is likely headed for final approval in October
Under the plan, a 5,915-square-foot Wawa store with 12 gasoline-fueling stations would be built on 4.95 acres.
A proposed Super Wawa on the Voorhees-Berlin border protested by residents and rejected by the Voorhees planning board will likely be approved in two weeks.
Developer NIKI-J&J Voorhees Cooper Partners LLC sued after the planning board last September did not approve its plan for a Wawa between Route 73 northbound and Cooper Road located in both Voorhees and Berlin Township.
In August, the board and the developer agreed to a settlement in state Superior Court in Camden that calls for the planning board to reconsider based on a proposal from NIKI-J&J to make improvements to Cooper Road to address traffic concerns.
Reconsideration of the developer’s preliminary and final major site plan is scheduled for the Oct. 14 board meeting. The Berlin Township planning/zoning board approved the Wawa on Aug. 18.
Under the plan, a 5,915-square-foot Wawa store with 12 gasoline-fueling stations would be built on 4.95 acres. Driveways would be on Route 73 and Cooper Road. The property is about a quarter mile south of the intersection of Cooper Road and Route 73.
Residents testifying at a Voorhees board hearing last September expressed concerns over traffic from the planned Cooper Road driveway.
“It’s a disaster ... the traffic backs up all the way to the entrance of Forrest Hills Drive,” resident Harry Garabedian, who lives on Forrest Hills Drive, told the board of existing traffic conditions on Cooper Road. “There’s nothing that Wawa is going to do that’s going to alleviate that; it’s only going to add to the burden.”
Board member Jason Ravitz, also a member of the Voorhees Township Committee and deputy mayor, said at the hearing: “This road already backs up during rush hour. ... This is going to be a real issue in the operation.”
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70and73.com is a hyperlocal news site focused on South Jersey, including the communities of Cherry Hill, Evesham, Mount Laurel, Voorhees, Medford, Medford Lakes, and Moorestown.
